Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:36:
OjitlĂĄn Chinantec: “Therefore if the Son of God liberates you, you will be truly liberated.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “I am the Son of my Father. If I free you from your servanthood, you truly won’t be servants.”
Xicotepec De JuĂĄrez Totonac: “You are like bought ones and the Son of God is able to free you and thus you will be able to rule yourselves.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “And if the Son of God cause you to get out from under the foot of evil so you are no longer like slaves, then truly you will get out from under its foot.”
Lalana Chinantec: “So if the Son will save you, you will really be saved.”
Central Tarahumara: “. . . If I shall help you so that you no longer have to do wrong, then you truly shall no longer be ruled as if you were a servant of the devil.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “So, if I free you from your sins, you are really free, because I am the Child of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore if the Son of God is the one who frees you, you are really free for sure.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore if you are set free by the Son of God, it is really true that you can no longer be ruled over by your former slave owner.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore if I who am God’s Child set-you -free from sin, you will indeed by freed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As long as I, who am the one meant by this Son, will be the one to release you from your slavery, it’s certain you will be truly released.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore if the Son of God saves you, you truly are saved.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Tzotzil: “If we obey the commands of God, thus we know that we are his children.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Candoshi-Shapra: “If we keep His orders, by that it is possible to know ourselves that we have learned (come to know) Jesus.”
Yaneshaâ: “If we reserve (keep in remembrance) his word, now of a truth we know of a truth thus how Christ is.”
Aguaruna: “He who obeys God’s word knows ‘God is surely like that.’ saying,” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 3:7:
Uma: “My children, don’t you allow any of those who want to deceive you [to do so]. People who do God’s will, they are upright people, like Yesus is upright.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “My children-grandchildren, be careful so that you will not be led astray from the true teaching. Whoever does the straight/righteous, is straight as Almasi (is).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “My children, it’s necessary that you do not listen to any lying person who would like to teach you. What is true is this: if there is a person who behaves properly, he is the righteous person just like Christ is righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “My children whom I esteem, be careful so you are not deceived. Whoever continually does what is good, that is a righteous (lit. straight) person as is Cristo just the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “My like children, don’t let yourselves be misled by anyone. As for the one who does righteousness, he is righteous in the sight of God, like Jesu-Cristo who is really righteous.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my children, don’t let anyone deceive you into committing sin. The one who lives good is good like Jesus Christ is good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “My little children, we must not permit anyone to deceive us. If we do what we ought to do we walk straight as Christ walks straight (is righteous).”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “My dear children, don’t let ourselves be deceived. He who habitually does good, it is known that his heart is good, like Christ.”
Tzotzil: “My children, don’t let anyone deceive you. If what we do is good, it is because our hearts are straight like Christ’s heart is straight.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Candoshi-Shapra: “Children, beware, don’t allow anyone to deceive you. The person who lives straight is a -straight-one. Like Jesus is a-straight-one like that he will be.”
Yaneshaâ: “Not, my little ones, you allow anyone to deceive you. Christ, the one who does that which is fitting, he is the one who is all good, thus like him, completely fitting whatever he does.”
Aguaruna: “My little children don’t be deceived by others. He who works good is good, like Christ is good;” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
Umiray Dumaget Agta: “He did not trust their belief.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “But Yesus did not believe them, because he knows the hearts of all people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But Isa did not trust them for he knew the thoughts and inside of the liver of all mankind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However Jesus was not convinced of their faith in him because he knew what was in the breath of all mankind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But Jesus didn’t indeed acknowledge-as-true that their believing-in/obeying him was genuine, because he knew the nature/ways of them all.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But Jesus didn’t have confidence in those people because he knows all that people think.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:13:
Chol: “There is much love in the one who will give himself to die on behalf of his friends. There is no one who has more love than this.”
OjitlĂĄn Chinantec: “If one is willing to die for a friend, he has loved that one to completion.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “The biggest love is this, when a person gives up his life for a friend of his.”
Shipibo-Conibo: “Only upon very really loving their friend can they want to die in his place.”
Yaneshaâ: “There isn’t love which surpasses this: We let go of ourselves to die for our loved ones.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “If there is a person who gives his life so that his companion lives, his love is indeed big. There is no love greater than the love of a person who gives his life in order to help his companion.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If a person submits to die because of his love for his friends, there is no human love greater than this.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If there is a person who allows himself to be killed in order to free his friends, this is a sign that his friends are very dear in his breath. There is no dearness which can equal this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This is the largest love that a person is able-to-show, if he dies so that his friends may live.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “True valuing which can’t be exceeded is the valuing by a person who will give his life/breath in place of the life/breath of his friends.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The most important thing one can do when he loves his friend is to give his life for his friend.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
In Ogea the word for “love” is “die for someone,” echoing the content of this verse. (Source. Sandi Colburn in Hiolzhausen 1991, p. 22)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 2:15:
Uma: “Let’s not love this world, or any of its contents. Whoever loves this world, they don’t love God the Father.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Don’t feel-good/like-to-do doing the things most people in this world do and don’t feel-good-about/like the various things in this world. Whoever feels-good-about/likes these things, he does not love his Father God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is necessary that the activities of the people here on the earth who are the enemies of God are not big in our (incl.) breath; it is also necessary that there is nothing here on the earth which is big in our breath. For if there is a person and what is big in his breath are those things, it is not possible that what is dear in his breath is our Father God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You shouldn’t love the behavior which is opposed to what God wants and that which is on this earth, because if you love these-things, you also have no love for God our Father.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I urge you, no longer give preference to the ways of here under the heavens which are opposed to the will of God, or whatever here which is opposed to him. Because whoever still chooses-to-remain-committed-to these, it’s clear that he has no holding dear for this Father of ours.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Do not like the evil there is here in the world. He who likes the evil here in the world is the person who does not know how to love our Father.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “Do not you desire intensely to do like the evil head-hearted people do, and likewise do not you desire intensely the things you will have in this world. We know if we are desiring intensely to do like the evil head-hearted people are doing, we have not yet come to love our father God.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Don’t like the world, neither the deeds of the world. If someone likes (loves) the world, he doesn’t esteem God.”
Tzotzil: “Don’t let it be that your hearts get taken up with what belongs to the world and what is here in the world. Because if our hearts are taken up with what belongs to the world, we don’t love our Father God.”
Garifuna: “Don’t you love the world’s character/conduct, nor any of the things which are in the world. If a person loves that which pertains to the world, he does not love (our) Father.” (Source for this and three above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Candoshi-Shapra: “Don’t love the world. Also don’t love the things that belong to the world. The person who loves the world does not love the Father.”
Yaneshaâ: “Do not treasure all which you see on the earth. If anyone treasures what is on the earth, our Father in love has not yet arrived on him in his heart.”
Aguaruna: “That which belongs to people (purely human), don’t love that; don’t love that which is of (belongs to) this here world. That which belongs to this here world, you loving, our Father God you do not love.” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 3:18:
Uma: “My children, let’s not be loving in lips only, let’s not say that we love our relatives and we not do anything to help them. We [should be] loving with our behavior, for that is really true love.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “My children-grandchildren, don’t let us (incl.) just love with words/speech. But if we (dual) say we (dual) love our (dual) fellow-man, we (dual) should make our (dual) words true/confirm/verify them and cause good deeds to accompany (the words) toward them (the fellow-men).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “My dear children, it’s necessary that our love for our companions is not just mere words, but rather it is necessary that we show our love for them by means of our actions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You who are my children, our manner-of-loving our companions, it should not be merely in our words only, but rather it should be from-the-heart and it should be shown in what we are doing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “You who are like my children, what is good is, we are not just saying that we value one other, but rather we are showing through what we are doing that this valuing of ours is true.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my children, only let it not come from your mouths that we love our fellowmen, rather let it be apparent that we truly love, let us help our fellowmen.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “My little children, we must not love our fellows just with words. We should not just say we love our fellows, but we must love them wholeheartedly and help our fellows.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “My dear children, let us not just talk about love, but let us really do it.”
Tzotzil: “My children, don’t let it be in vain we say that we love each other, don’t let’s lie. Let our work appear that we love each other really and truly.”
Garifuna: “My children. Let us love each other, not just that which is speaking nor just that which we say. Let us love one another genuinely, that which we show by means of what we do.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Candoshi-Shapra: “Children, listen! No more of this only loving with our mouths. Let’s completely love each other with all of our hearts.”
Yaneshaâ: “Let’s not, my little ones, love one another with all words, just from our mouth. We cause to appear our love, completely of a truth, therein whatever we do.”
Aguaruna: “Little children, let’s love one another., but not just saying it, for nothing talking; truly let’s help each other, for nothing with the mouth only, not talking, rather let’s complete it.” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo (DinÄ): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term âinner partâ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “Godâs restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagĂłgĂŠ (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo (DinÄ): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
